To work, and back.

King Rat

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I was asked to cover for my other boat crew, I had got home and he rang, so I returned on the bike as it was just for the one day. Sutton Bridge, where Lincolnshire marches with Norfolk at the river Nene about 2 miles inland from where it enters The Wash. The bridge has an interesting history, as does the port of Sutton Bridge.
After work I tootled home through some very small, fenland roads doing my best to head NW as best I could and avoiding the A17. :)

Gedney has a massive church, almost Minster sized I would think. I wonder what the history is behind such a landmark in such a small, out of the way, village? It must have had a position of influence and wealth to gain so grand a church.

From there I meandered on through Whaplode to Moulton, a lovely little village with a shady, tree covered green that had several memorials. I didn't stop to investigate but I did take a photograph of the bike with the platinum jubilee mural and huge windmill. From there, somehow after going down a couple of dead end marshland roads, with no 'no through road' sign at their entrance! I found fuel at a Macdonalds on a roundabout at a Gulf fuel station, it was 'cheap' too. I had to pay £2.10/litre in Uttoxeter, here it was £1.93 for super99. It might have been Holbeach or the outskirts of Spalding? I am not really sure. (A151 meets A16 between Moulton and Spalding! Giggle Earth has shown me!)

Anyway I turned right on the A16 for a couple of miles and ended up on the normal road across to Grantham and then home through Kegworth, Kings Newton, Willington, Hatton, Rolleston, Tutbury, Marchington and down the hill to our house. It was great way to discover new scenery and places. This country has so much to discover. A round trip of just shy of 250 miles. :thumby:
 

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A couple more pictures, and village names I went through... Surfleet, Quadring, Donington.
 

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I had to look.


St Mary Magdalene Church
Gedney Church - geograph.org.uk - 28552.jpg
View from Church End
Wikimedia | © OpenStreetMap
Denomination Church of England
History
Dedication Mary Magdalene
Administration
Diocese Lincoln
Province Canterbury
St Mary Magdalene Church is an Anglican parish church of medieval origin in Gedney, Lincolnshire. Renowned for its large size in the surrounding low-lying landscape, it is commonly known as the Cathedral of the Fens. It is a Grade I listed building.[1]

The church is dedicated to St Mary Magdalene.[2] Originating in the 13th century, additions and alterations were carried on into the 17th. It was considerably restored in 1890 however the spire to the tower was unfinished and left as a stump. The tower, 86 feet to its parapet, has Early English lower stages and Perpendicular upper. The nave arcades and the chancel are of Decorated style. During the rebuilding of the south aisle in 1890 a brass of a female (ca. 1390), with a puppy at her feet, was discovered. Also in the south aisle is a damaged 13th century effigy of a cross-legged knight, conjectured to represent Falco D'Oyry,[3] and Jacobean alabaster monuments of Adlard Welby, his wife Cassandra and their five children, erected in 1605. The south porch has an upper chamber.[4][5] At the east end of the north aisle are the remains of a 14th-century Jesse window.[5]

The churchyard contains the war grave of a Lincolnshire Regiment soldier of the First World War.[6]
 
I had to look.


St Mary Magdalene Church
Gedney Church - geograph.org.uk - 28552.jpg
View from Church End
Wikimedia | © OpenStreetMap
Denomination Church of England
History
Dedication Mary Magdalene
Administration
Diocese Lincoln
Province Canterbury
St Mary Magdalene Church is an Anglican parish church of medieval origin in Gedney, Lincolnshire. Renowned for its large size in the surrounding low-lying landscape, it is commonly known as the Cathedral of the Fens. It is a Grade I listed building.[1]

The church is dedicated to St Mary Magdalene.[2] Originating in the 13th century, additions and alterations were carried on into the 17th. It was considerably restored in 1890 however the spire to the tower was unfinished and left as a stump. The tower, 86 feet to its parapet, has Early English lower stages and Perpendicular upper. The nave arcades and the chancel are of Decorated style. During the rebuilding of the south aisle in 1890 a brass of a female (ca. 1390), with a puppy at her feet, was discovered. Also in the south aisle is a damaged 13th century effigy of a cross-legged knight, conjectured to represent Falco D'Oyry,[3] and Jacobean alabaster monuments of Adlard Welby, his wife Cassandra and their five children, erected in 1605. The south porch has an upper chamber.[4][5] At the east end of the north aisle are the remains of a 14th-century Jesse window.[5]

The churchyard contains the war grave of a Lincolnshire Regiment soldier of the First World War.[6]

Thank you.
 
You have almost managed to make Sutton Bridge look attractive !

Norfolk was once a very very rich county (Norwich was once the capital of England i think ) from the wool trade amongst others and some of the churches and buildings in Norfolk certainly were used to show off that wealth
 
You have almost managed to make Sutton Bridge look attractive !

Norfolk was once a very very rich county (Norwich was once the capital of England i think ) from the wool trade amongst others and some of the churches and buildings in Norfolk certainly were used to show off that wealth

Thank you. It is amazing the number of large churches in seemingly back of beyond villages.

Here is a better picture of the bridge taken a month or so back.
 

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I'd guess the cash for such churches came from the wool trade. Ports round Lincolnshire and the Wash would have been outlets for exports to Europe where English wool was in high demand. Norwich for example had 57 churches in the middle ages! Wealthy merchants and trade associations were linked with particular churches and the saints they were dedicated to, so there was a degree of competition for status between them also. Then there's the pilgrimage factor which was important economically since everyone, rich or poor, would have tried to complete a pilgrimage to get near the relics of a saint. Bear in mind that religious belief was not optional in a society that was largely controlled by a single church which offered life everlasting, in a world where life expectancy was pretty low!

Making the leap from our modern, secular and scientific mindset to that of the middle ages is pretty difficult. Ken Follett's book "The Pillars of the Earth" does a decent job of it though.
 


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